2015-06-12

MyReadingLounge: Since the story is historical, how have you done your research? Do you have suggestions for fellow writers who write historical fiction?

Elise de Sallier: I wanted to study history during my final two years at high school, but it was on the same timeline as art which was my passion. I later quenched two thirsts, one for fascinating historical details and the other for stories with a guaranteed happy ending, by reading large quantities of historical romances. My first attempt to write one for my self was done purely for fun and published online as a fanfiction story. It was only when I was asked to rework my fan fiction story, A Forbidden Love, publication for TWCS, that I began to realise what I'd let myself in for.

Thankfully, I'd done a lot of googling when writing for fan fiction, in my attempt to be at least vaguely historically accurate. I discovered some fantastic websites set up by other authors of the Regency, Georgian, and Victorian eras, and fell in love with Wikipedia.

My advice to other authors would be to double check everything you can think of, though don't be surprised if readers or reviewers still managed to catch you out occasionally. Specifically, I try to always check the origin or first usage of phrases or unusual words, as well as researching the customs and political landscape of the time.ù